No Tricks
by WanningMoon
Summary: Buffy faces down a famous monster with the weird creature who called it, only to wake up and find herself in Spike's arms and crypt. A Spuffy Halloween one-shot,fluffy at end.


_Here lies the headless horseman,_

_His head at his side._

_If you are brave enough to take it,_

_Again he shall ride._

With a deep sigh, Buffy continued to stare at the small, simple tombstone with the etched words barely visible and a small circle of dead grass on the left side. Why on all nights did the pumpkin head have to be stolen on Halloween? She should have been at home cramming her mouth full of candy and watching a horror movie marathon with Dawn. But no she had to investigate the reports of a black horse with a headless rider near the cemetery because she was Buffy, slayer extraordinaire, out to protect the whole wide world from the things that go bump in the night. That would be Giles' queue to come in talking about the importance of her job…blah, blah, blah. Yes, the slayer knew slaying was important to protect the weak and defenseless, but for once she wished she could just have a normal holiday week with no monster slaying or well with any type of slaying really.

Last Halloween it was the Pumpkin King trying to eat her flesh, then on Thanksgiving a giant Spanish speaking turkey wanted revenge on humans eating his kind for the holiday. Her personal favorite was at Christmas two years ago when a fear demon shape shifted into an evil, perverted Santa that went on a murdering spree around the Sunnydale mall. You try to pour holy water on a demon that was trying to shimmy down a stripper pole without drawing any attention from the shoppers. The town of Sunnydale has never looked at a mall Santa the same way ever again; most just grab their children while making a b-line to the parked cars.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as Buffy's slayer senses went into over drive. Turning around she saw what looked like a short hairy demon of something with a pumpkin he was clutching to his chest, the mad scowl staring at her. The horseman's body (horse included) was not far behind swiping a sword that almost got the runner, but missed only cutting off a few strands of hair.

"You are under my command!" It screeched, "And I command you to stop chasing me!"

The horse man just swung his sword again getting a bigger wad of hair. The creature should be thanking the horseman, the slayer thought, what ever it was looked like a cross between a rug and cousin it from the Adam's family and was in desperate need of a haircut. With adrenalin pulsing threw her veins; she crouched down and made a dive for the pumpkin. The creature rolled and tumbled with her until she was able to hit its head on a tree trunk. Popping back up into a fighting stance, the slayer stood her ground as the horseman loomed over her. His horse stamped its hove on the ground impatiently.

"You want this?" The slayer asked holding the pumpkin high in the air.

His horse was ready to charge, ears flat and bent down to jump. Tension filled the air until Buffy relaxed her stance and threw the head to him.

"Here you go. You can have it." Both the horse and its rider had a questioning look on their faces. Instead of answering the slayer followed her instincts for the second time and dodged a knife aimed at the middle of her back.

As she continued to dodge and block, the slayer wondered just were the knife came from. The guy, what she assumed was a guy from the deep voice he was using to curse her in his own native language, defiantly did not have any pockets. A blast of magic sent her flying back into the tree behind her. The horseman with his head newly reattached caught the guy creature on fire. Buffy, however, did not see the outcome of the battle as her world began to blur and slowly faded to black.

~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~

She sprung up; throwing whatever was touching her leg off, taking deep breaths. Taking a moment to become aware of her surroundings, she realized she was laying on the bed in her-.

"Ow, love. Is that the thanks I get for pickin' you up and tryin' to bandage you up? "

Looking around Buffy saw gray rock as the walls with no windows. "Spike?"

"The one and only. Unless you were expecting nancy boy. Then I would have just poofed in leavin' you a message that explains nothin' and droppin' you off at your house lettin' you recover alone. Here you can use my hand on that nasty bruise." His hand on her head felt like a mini icepack. Still disoriented she tried to make since of what had happened.

"How long have I been asleep?"

"Four hours." Sifting his body to be under hers, Spike cradled her head treating it like glass.

"What happened to the Horseman and Cousin it?"

"Both were gone by the time I arrived an' only some singed grass remained."

"Good, so I don't have to deal with…..Wait a minute! What do you think you are doing?" The slayer's head stopped feeling fuzzy, making her realize Spike was her pillow.

"Well you see when a bloke loves a woman…" His comment was cut off by a jab to the ribs.

She made a move to leave the bed until she remembered back when Glory was around and what he did for Dawn. Wither she liked it or not, the slayer did owe him even more so now that he had saved her life. Plus using his body as a pillow felt really good at the moment. Gently, to avoid hurting her head even more, she leaned back putting her head on his shoulder closing her eyes wishing the pounding head ache would go away.

"Change of heart, pet?"

Taking a deep breath, Buffy barely whispered, "I'm sorry." With a jerk, Spike met her eyes with a look crossed between what the hell and what for.

"I…I kicked you out of the house, the only place you had a home in for a long time. You took care of Dawn and the others while I was gone protecting them because of your promise to me. I shouldn't have done that."

The whole crypt went into complete silence with only the ticking of a clock could be heard. For the longest time she watched Spike stare at her deep in thought.

"You forgot to mention your disgust at my profession of love for you. That was the main reason I was so kindly kicked out."

She let out a snort. "Hey, you can't really blame me for that. All the other people I went out with turned out to be either a bastard or evil or cursed. Not the best track record ever. Plus I was just getting over Riley." The smile faded from her face. "They all left for some reason or another, even Mom. Guess a slayer just has to make the journey alone."

"Buffy, look at me," Spike moved his shoulder so she would be staring up at him. "Your mom wouldn't want you to think like that. You have Dawn an' all the other Scooby's, who look out an' care for you. You wouldn't have been resurrected if they didn't. An' if you can't turn to the others, you always have me. I didn't disappear after I was kicked out. I watched you silently in the shadows an' stood guard over the house. Couldn't have anything happenin' to the lil' bit."

"So you stalked me for most of the night hours?"

"That is not stalkin'. Me stalkin' you, the mighty slayer, was around your sophomore year when I started collecting your stuff for a shrine."

Upon seeing the horrified look given to him, Spike laughed. "Yes, it was started that early."

Rolling her eyes, Buffy shifted her body so her head could again rest on his shoulder. Suddenly she froze. "Will you be here when I wake up?"

His arms tightened around her. "Always, love, always. An' remember it will take a lot more than uninviting an' garlic to get rid of me."

"Thanks, Spike."

Flashing him a grin, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Snuggling up to him, she closed her eyes waiting for sleep to come.

* * *

><p><em>AN: First of all (early) Happy Halloween everyone! Secondly thank you for all the people who have reviewed and added me to their watch/favorites lists. It means a lot that you enjoy my stories. I origionaly got the idea from a cross-stich of the famous halloween icon with the poem under the picture. So I don't own that either. When reading this over in editing, I find myself not to pleased with the Spuffy dialogue except for the end with all its fluffy goodness. This is one of the longest one-shots I have written so far and took me about five days to type. But realize I already planed and wrote some of the story out, so it took me longer than that. Now I want to tackle a short story. So be on the look out for a short story from me that is probably going to be a Zuko x Mai story for the fact I rewatched the beach vacation episode for the Azula gang.(All the Zutarra loves out there don't be hatein'. I love both couples and can see both arguments.) Since I go back to school this week from fall break, the first chapter might be out late November to early December. Maybe even later because I'll only get to work on it on weekends and have no clue when I can type or edit it. Thanks for reading. Flames, suggestions and reviews are welcome. -WM_


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